Vehicle: 2005 Volvo S40 T5 with 5-speed Geartronic, sunroof, leather seating surface, premium pkg, convenience pkg, climate pkg, audio pkg and sports pkg.
Price as tested: CDN$46840

Performance: The S40 is powered by one of two engines. The base 2.4 or the uplevel T5 in our tester. T5 is Volvo’s proven turbocharged 2.5L 5-cylinder high pressure unit that bumps out a 218 horses and 236 lb/ft of torque. Latter appears between 1500 and 4800 rpm. There is minimal amount of turbo lag that is typical of Volvo’s high-pressure turbos. The engine is smooth and refine. It also sounds really nice with aggressive exhaust tuning. Throttle response is quick without the abrupt reaction of most turbo cars. Its also willing to push through redline as it won’t feel breathless during spirited driving. The 5-speed Geartronic provides decent ratios which means it won’t hunt for the right gears while providing excellent up and downshifts. However, the shifter is way too stiff to push up and pull down in manumatic mode. You have to be really violent to move the shifter or it won’t shift up or down a gear.

Handling: Given the new S40 shares the same platform as the highly regarded Mazda 3 and Focus C1, there is no doubt this is an extremely rigid and stiff chassis to begin with. However, its not without drawbacks. Because its a front-driver with 218hp, there is a slight hint of torque steer. Although the steering provides decent response, it feels somewhat numb on and off-center. Once again, it got an acceptable amount of body rolls and understeer when pushed. Volvo’s dynamic control or DSTC doesn’t feel instrusive as it allows you to have some oversteer fun before it starts to kick in. There is enough threshold to allow the driver to control the oversteer and understeer before it starts to activate. On the other hand, S40 feels more like a matured Mazda 3 with 75% of its dynamic capabilities. The overall feels like a Volvo which means benign handling with good ride comfort. Its the sportiest Volvo ever even if it still not at the helm of the sports sedan crowd.

Brakes: The 4-wheel discs with ABS provides excellent pedal feel with short stopping distance. Both the pedal modulation and efforts are top-notch. It has to be considered as one of the best brakes ever.

Interior: The interior of the S40 is the combination of simplicity and functionality. The instrumentation gauges are clear and analog. Everything are well within reach with large stereo and climate control buttons. The seats are typical Volvo sofa-like comfortable with great supports all around. However, there are a couple of pet peeves. Firstly, the cool floating center console has blocked the access to the back of the storage area when you put your cell phone there. Secondly, there are some hard and cheap plastic around the center console and glovebox areas. Thirdly, the black interior feels very blend even with the tasteful aluminum trim floating center console. Lastly, the back seat feels cramped when I moved the front seats all the way back.

As with usual Volvo trunk, there are swallow layout thanks to the sleek tailights. It also got a somewhat high trunk liftover. Other than that, it got uninstrusive trunk hinges that won’t cut into the lugguges and a 40/60 split fold down rear seats.

Conclusion: New S40 is a huge step forward over its unremarkable predecessor. It finally got the chassis and engine that match the rest of the package. The problems are its way too pricey when loaded which means it has to compete with sports sedans a notch higher, while the premium entry-level segment still haven’t fully established in North America.

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2005 VOLVO S40 T5
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Performance: 4.5/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 3.5/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4.75/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 2/5
Value-f0r-money: 2/5

Overall rating: 3.75/5